Verification of net asset values

ABSTRACT

Disclosed herein is a system for verifying financial data, such as a Net Asset Value (“NAV”), received from a third party. A new NAV for a fund may be supplied to the system, along with other data, for storage in a database of financial data. Upon receiving the new NAV, the system may analyze the NAV by comparing it to historical NAVs for that fund. If the NAV is within a certain variance, as compared to historical values, then the NAV may be stored as a current NAV for the fund. However, if the NAV differs from one or more historical values by more than a predetermined tolerance, the system may present to a provider of the NAV data one or more possible explanations for the variation, from among which the provider must select an explanation before the NAV is added to the database of financial data.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

[0001] The present invention relates generally to a financial accountingsystem for maintaining data of a financial database, and moreparticularly to a method of verifying accuracy of new data received foraddition to the database.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0002] Verification of financial data is an integral operational taskexecuted by financial institutions that offer a broad range ofinvestment and financial service. Financial institutions have aninterest in mitigating risks which might arise if key operational tasksare executed without verification systems. One such operational taskinvolves maintaining and updating net asset database for funds. Thereliability such a database depends upon the robustness of the systemadministering the database in verifying the accuracy of the informationentering and residing in the database.

[0003] The present invention addresses the need for robustness bydisclosure of a system configured to verify the accuracy of financialdata such as net asset data.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0004] Disclosed herein is a system for verifying financial data, suchas a Net Asset Value (“NAV”), received from a third party. A new NAV fora fund may be supplied to the system, along with other data, for storagein a database of financial data. Upon receiving the new NAV, the systemmay analyze the NAV by comparing it to historical NAVs for that fund. Ifthe NAV is within a certain variance, as compared to historical values,then the NAV may be stored as a current NAV for the fund. However, ifthe NAV differs from one or more historical values by more than apredetermined tolerance, the system may present to a provider of the NAVdata one or more possible explanations for the variation, from amongwhich the provider must select an explanation before the NAV is added tothe database of financial data.

[0005] The system may be realized, for example, in an n-tier Web serveror other platform for deployment and use over a network, and may beconfigured to receive financial data and provide reports throughout thenetwork. The system may also, or instead, be deployed within a localarea network, corporate area network, or wide area network. The variancethat is used as a threshold for requiring a user-provided explanationmay be relative (e.g., a percentage change) or absolute (e.g., plus orminus a certain dollar value), and may vary from period to periodaccording to broader market trends such as the Dow Jones IndustrialAverage or the Standard & Poors 500 composite index. Management toolsmay be provided for adding, deleting, or modifying the variance, as wellas the possible explanations for exceeding the variance.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0006] The foregoing and other objects and advantages of the inventionwill be appreciated more fully from the following further descriptionthereof, with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein:

[0007]FIG. 1 shows a schematic diagram of the entities involved in anembodiment of a method and system disclosed herein;

[0008]FIG. 2 shows a block diagram of a server that may be used with thesystems described herein;

[0009]FIG. 3 shows a page that may be used as a user interface;

[0010]FIG. 4 is a flow chart of a verification process using the systemsdescribed herein; and

[0011]FIG. 5 depicts a user interface that may be used with the systemsdescribed herein.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF CERTAIN EMBODIMENTS

[0012] To provide an overall understanding of the invention, certainillustrative embodiments will now be described, including aWeb-deployed, client/server architecture for verifying externallyprovided net asset values for funds. The systems described herein mayhave particular applicability in a financial context, such as where afund manager at a custodial bank manages a number of substantialholdings in various investment vehicles for an institution or high networth individual, where the system provides for timely reporting ofchanges in asset values and review of the changes by a supervisor of thefund manager or the customer whose money is under management. However,it will be understood that the methods and systems described herein canbe suitably adapted to any environment where data from an externalsource is provided for inclusion in a database that contains historicalvalues for the same measurement. This may include, for example, physicalmeasurements (e.g., height, weight, speed, force, energy, and so forth),meteorological measurements (e.g., rainfall, barometric pressure,temperature), physiological measurements (e.g., heart rate, bloodpressure, body temperature), financial data (interest rates, stockprices, earnings, dividends), or any other measurement or quantity thatmay be sampled at fixed or varying periods. These and other applicationsof the systems described herein are intended to fall within the scope ofthe invention. More generally, the principles of the invention may beapplicable to any environment where ongoing measurements of a quantityare received and stored.

[0013]FIG. 1 shows a schematic diagram of the entities involved in anembodiment of a method and system disclosed herein. In a system 100, aplurality of clients 102, servers 104, and providers 108 are connectedvia an internetwork 110. It should be understood that any number ofclients 102, servers 104, and providers 108 could participate in such asystem 100. The system may further include one or more local areanetworks (“LAN”) 112 interconnecting clients 102 through a hub 114 (in,for example, a peer network) or a local area network server 114 (in, forexample, a client-server network). The LAN 112 may be connected to theinternetwork 110 through a gateway 116, which provides security to theLAN 112 and ensures operating compatibility between the LAN 112 and theinternetwork 110. Any data network may be used as the internetwork 110and the LAN 112.

[0014] In one embodiment, the internetwork 110 is the Internet, and theWorld Wide Web provides a system for interconnecting clients 102 andservers 104 through the Internet 110. The internetwork 110 may include acable network, a wireless network, and any other networks forinterconnecting clients, servers and other devices.

[0015] An exemplary client 102 includes the conventional components of aclient system, such as a processor, a memory (e.g. RAM), a bus whichcouples the processor and the memory, a mass storage device (e.g. amagnetic hard disk or an optical storage disk) coupled to the processorand the memory through an I/O controller, and a network interfacecoupled to the processor and the memory, such as modem, digitalsubscriber line (“DSL”) card, cable modem, network interface card,wireless network card, or other interface device capable of wired, fiberoptic, or wireless data communications. One example of such a client 102is a personal computer equipped with an operating system such asMicrosoft Windows 95, Microsoft Windows NT, Unix, Linux, and Linuxvariants, along with software support for Internet communicationprotocols. The personal computer may also include a browser program,such as Microsoft Internet Explorer or Netscape Navigator, to provide auser interface for access to the Internet 110. Although the personalcomputer is a typical client 102, the client 102 may also be aworkstation, mobile computer, Web phone, television set-top box,interactive kiosk, personal digital assistant, or other device capableof communicating over the Internet 110. As used herein, the term“client” is intended to refer to any of the above-described clients 102,as well as proprietary network clients designed specifically for thefinancial systems described herein, and the term “browser” is intendedto refer to any of the above browser programs or other software orfirmware providing a user interface for navigating the Internet 110and/or communicating with the financial systems.

[0016] An exemplary server 104 includes a processor, a memory (e.g.RAM), a bus which couples the processor and the memory, a mass storagedevice (e.g. a magnetic or optical disk) coupled to the processor andthe memory through an I/O controller, and a network interface coupled tothe processor and the memory. Servers may be clustered together tohandle more client traffic, and may include separate servers fordifferent functions such as a database server, a file server, anapplication server, and a Web presentation server. Such servers mayfurther include one or more mass storage devices such as a disk farm ora redundant array of independent disk (“RAID”) system for additionalstorage and data integrity. Read-only devices, such as compact diskdrives and digital versatile disk drives, may also be connected to theservers. Suitable servers and mass storage devices are manufactured by,for example, Compaq, IBM, and Sun Microsystems. As used herein, the term“server” is intended to refer to any of the above-described servers 104.

[0017] Focusing now on the internetwork 110, one embodiment is theInternet. The structure of the Internet 110 is well known to those ofordinary skill in the art and includes a network backbone with networksbranching from the backbone. These branches, in turn, have networksbranching from them, and so on. The backbone and branches are connectedby routers, bridges, switches, and other switching elements that operateto direct data through the internetwork 110. However, one may practicethe present invention on a wide variety of communication networks. Forexample, the internetwork 110 can include interactive televisionnetworks, telephone networks, wireless data transmission systems,two-way cable systems, customized computer networks, interactive kiosknetworks and automatic teller machine networks. Further, various dataresources may be available through the internetwork 110, including text,images, multi-media, and databases that are provided through commandline or graphical front-ends over the internetwork 110, and databasesavailable through local networks connected to the internetwork 110.

[0018] In the Internet, Internet service providers 108 such as MicrosoftNetwork, America OnLine, Prodigy and CompuServe may offer dial-inservice. The Internet service providers 108 may also include anycomputer system which can provide Internet access to a client 102. Ofcourse, the Internet service providers 108 are optional, and in somecases, the clients 102 may have direct access to the Internet 110through a dedicated DSL service, ISDN leased lines, T1 lines, digitalsatellite service, cable modem service, or any other high-speedconnection. Any of these high-speed services may also be offered throughone of the Internet service providers 108.

[0019] In its embodiment as the Internet, the internetwork 110 consistsof a worldwide computer network that communicates using the well-definedTransmission Control Protocol (“TCP”) and Internet Protocol (“IP”) toprovide transport and network services. Computer systems that aredirectly connected to the Internet 110 each have a unique IP address.The IP address consists of four one-byte numbers (although a plannedexpansion to sixteen bytes is underway with IPv6). The four bytes of theIP address are commonly written out separated by periods such as“194.152.65.222”. To simplify Internet addressing, the Domain NameSystem (“DNS”) was created. The DNS allows users to access Internetresources with a simpler alphanumeric naming system. A DNS name consistsof a series of alphanumeric names separated by periods. For example, thename “www.lga-inc.com” corresponds to a particular IP address. When adomain name is used, the computer accesses a DNS server to obtain theexplicit four-byte IP address.

[0020] It will be appreciated that other internetworks 110 may be usedwith the invention. For example, the internetwork 110 may be a wide-areanetwork, a local area network, or corporate area network. Theinternetwork 110 may be any other network used to communicate data, suchas a cable broadcast network. All of the network components describedabove may, either alone or in combination, form the internetwork 110described herein. It will be understood that the terms “internetwork”and “network” are intended to refer to any such network, unlessspecifically noted otherwise.

[0021] To further define the resources on the Internet, the UniformResource Locator system was created. A Uniform Resource Locator (“URL”)is a descriptor that specifically defines a type of Internet resourcealong with its location. URLs have the following format:

[0022] resource-type://domain.address/path-name

[0023] where resource-type defines the type of Internet resource. Webdocuments are identified by the resource type “http” which indicatesthat the hypertext transfer protocol should be used to access thedocument. Other common resource types include “ftp” (file transmissionprotocol), “mailto” (send electronic mail), “file” (local file), and“telnet.” The domain.address defines the domain name address of thecomputer that the resource is located on. Finally, the path-name definesa directory path within the file system of the server that identifiesthe resource. As used herein, the term “IP address” is intended to referto the four-byte Internet Protocol address, and the term “Web address”is intended to refer to a domain name address, along with any resourceidentifier and path name appropriate to identify a particular Webresource. The term “address,” when used alone, is intended to refer toeither a Web address or an IP address.

[0024] In an exemplary embodiment, a browser, executing on one of theclients 102, retrieves a Web document at an address from one of theservers 104 via the internetwork 110, and displays the Web document on aviewing device, e.g., a screen. A user can retrieve and view the Webdocument by entering, or selecting a link to, a URL in the browser. Thebrowser then sends an http request to the server 104 that has the Webdocument associated with the URL. The server 104 responds to the httprequest by sending the requested Web document to the client 102. The Webdocument is an HTTP object that includes plain text (ASCII) conformingto the HyperText Markup Language (“HTML”). Other markup languages areknown and may be used on appropriately enabled browsers and servers,including the Dynamic HyperText Markup Language (“DHTML”), theExtensible Markup Language (“XML”), the Extensible Hypertext MarkupLanguage (“XHML”), and the Standard Generalized Markup Language(“SGML”).

[0025] Each Web document usually contains hyperlinks to other Webdocuments. The browser displays the Web document on the screen for theuser and the hyperlinks to other Web documents are emphasized in somefashion such that the user can identify and select each hyperlink. Toenhance functionality, a server 104 may execute programs associated withWeb documents using programming or scripting languages, such as Perl, C,C++, or Java. A server 104 may also use server-side scriptingtechnologies such as ColdFusion from Allaire, Inc., or PHP. Theseprograms and languages perform “back-end” functions such as orderprocessing, database management, and content searching. A Web documentmay also include references to small client-side applications, orapplets, that are transferred from the server 104 to the client 102along with a Web document and executed locally by the client 102. Javais one popular example of a programming language used for applets. Thetext within a Web document may further include (non-displayed) scriptsthat are executable by an appropriately enabled browser, using ascripting language such as JavaScript or Visual Basic Script. Browsersmay further be enhanced with a variety of helper applications tointerpret various media including still image formats such as JPEG andGIF, document formats such as PS and PDF, motion picture formats such asAVI and MPEG, and sound formats such as MP3 and MIDI. These mediaformats, along with a growing variety of proprietary media formats, maybe used to enrich a user's interactive and audio-visual experience aseach Web document is presented through the browser. The term “page” asused herein is intended to refer to the Web document described above, aswell as any of the above-described functional or multimedia contentassociated with the Web document.

[0026]FIG. 2 shows a block diagram of a server that may be used with thesystems described herein. In this embodiment, the server 104 includes apresentation server 200, an application server 202, and a databaseserver 204. The application server 202 is connected to the presentationserver 200. The database server 204 is also connected to thepresentation server 200 and the application server 202, and is furtherconnected to a database 206 embodied on a mass storage device. Thepresentation server 200 includes a connection to the internetwork 110.It will be appreciated that each of the servers may comprise more thanone physical server, as required for capacity and redundancy, and itwill be further appreciated that in some embodiments more than one ofthe above servers may be logical servers residing on the same physicaldevice. It will further be appreciated that one or more of the serversmay be at a remote location, and may communicate with the presentationserver 200 through a local area or wide area network. The term “host,”as used herein, is intended to refer to any combination of serversdescribed above that include a presentation server 200 for providingaccess to pages by the clients 102. The term “site,” as used herein, isintended to refer to a collection of pages sharing a common domain nameaddress, or dynamically generated by a common host, or accessiblethrough a common host (i.e., a particular page may be maintained on orgenerated by a remote server, but nonetheless be within a site).

[0027] The presentation server 200 provides an interface for one or moreconnections to the internetwork 110, thus permitting more than one ofthe clients 102 (FIG. 1) to access the site at the same time. In oneembodiment, the presentation server 200 comprises a plurality ofenterprise servers, such as the ProLiant Cluster available from CompaqComputer Corp., or a cluster of E250's from Sun MicroSystems runningSolaris 2.7. Other suitable servers are known in the art and may be usedwith the systems described herein. The server maintains one or moreconnections to the internetwork 1 10, such as through a tier oneprovider—one of the dozen or so national/international Internetbackbones with cross-national links of T3 speeds or higher, such as MCI,UUNet, BBN Planet, and Digex. Each server may be, for example, aniPlanet Enterprise Server 4.0 from the Sun/Netscape Alliance. Thepresentation server 200 may also, for example, use the Microsoft WindowsNT operating system, with a “front end” written in Microsoft ActiveServer Page (“ASP”), or some other programming language or serversoftware capable of integrating ActiveX controls, forms, Visual BasicScripts, JavaScript, Macromedia Flash Technology multimedia, e-mail, andother functional and multimedia aspects of a page. Typically, the frontend includes all text, graphics, and interactive objects within a page,along with templates used for dynamic page creation.

[0028] A client 102 (FIG. 1) accessing an address hosted by thepresentation server 200 will receive a page from the presentation server200 containing text, forms, scripts, active objects, hyperlinks, etc.,which may be collectively viewed using a browser. Each page may consistof static content, i.e., an HTML text file and associated objects(*.avi, *.jpg, *.gif, etc.) stored on the presentation server, and mayinclude active content including applets, scripts, and objects such ascheck boxes, drop-down lists, and the like. A page may be dynamicallycreated in response to a particular client 102 request, includingappropriate queries to the database server 204 for particular types ofdata to be included in a responsive page. It will be appreciated thataccessing a page is more complex in practice, and includes, for example,a DNS request from the client 102 to a DNS server, receipt of an IPaddress by the client 102, formation of a TCP connection with a port atthe indicated IP address, transmission of a GET command to thepresentation server 200, dynamic page generation (if required),transmission of an HTML object, fetching additional objects referencedby the HTML object, and so forth.

[0029] The application server 202 provides the “back-end” functionalityof the Web site, and includes connections to the presentation server 200and the database server 204. In one embodiment, the presentation server200 comprises an enterprise server, such as one available from CompaqComputer Corp., running the Microsoft Windows NT operating system, or acluster of E250's from Sun MicroSystems running Solaris 2.7. Theback-end software may be implemented using pre-configured e-commercesoftware, such as that available from Pandesic, to provide some of theback-end functionality, including realization of application logicassociated with the systems described herein. The software running onthe application server 202 may include a software interface to thedatabase server 204, as well as a software interface to the front endprovided by the presentation server 200.

[0030] The database server 204 may be an enterprise server, such as oneavailable from Compaq Computer Corp., running the Microsoft Windows NToperating system or a cluster of E250's from Sun MicroSystems runningSolaris 2.7, along with software components for database management.Suitable databases are provided by, for example, Oracle, Sybase, andInformix. The database server 204 may also include one or more databases206, typically embodied in a mass-storage device. The databases 206 mayinclude, for example, user interfaces, search results, search querystructures, user information, and the templates used by the presentationserver to dynamically generate pages. In operation, the databasemanagement software running on the database server 204 receives properlyformatted requests from the presentation server 200, or the applicationserver 202. In response, the database management software reads datafrom, or writes data to, the databases 206, and generates responsivemessages to the requesting server. The database server 204 may alsoinclude a File Transfer Protocol (“FTP”) server for providingdownloadable files.

[0031]FIG. 3 shows a page that may be used as a user interface. The page300 may include a header 302, a sidebar 304, a footer 306 and a mainsection 308, all of which may be displayed at a client 102 using abrowser. The header 302 may include, for example, a title of the page,and one or more links to other pages displayed as hyperlinks, labeledtabs, or the like. The sidebar 304 may include a menu of choices for auser at the client 102. The footer 306 may include informationconcerning the page such as a “help” or “webmaster” contact, copyrightinformation, disclaimers, a privacy statement, etc. The main section 308may include content for viewing by the user. The main section 308 mayalso include, for example, tools for adding, deleting, or modifyingaccount information, managing and displaying accounts, and so forth. Itwill be appreciated that the description above is generic, and may bevaried according to where a client 102 is within a Web site related tothe page, as well as according to any available information about theclient 102 (such as display size, media capabilities, etc.), availableinformation about the user at the client (such as profile information),or authorization to view or edit certain information.

[0032] A Web site including the page 300 may use cookies to track usersand user information. In particular, a client 102 accessing the site maybe accessed to detect whether the client 102 has previously accessed thepage or the site. If the client 102 has accessed the site, then somepredetermined content may be presented to the client 102. If the client102 does not include a cookie indicating that the client 102 has visitedthe site, then the client 102 may be directed to a registration pagewhere information may be gathered to create a user profile. The client102 may also be presented with a login page, so that a pre-existing useron a new client 102 may nonetheless bypass the registration page.

[0033] The site may provide options to the client 102. For example, thesite may provide a search tool by which the client 102 may search forcontent within the site, or content within financial databasesassociated with the site. Views of data provided by the site may befiltered according to account information stored in the database, suchas fund names, fund managers, customer names, user names, and so forth.The site may include news items topical to the site. The site mayprovide a user profile update tool by which the client 102 may makealterations to a user profile. The site may include a help feature forproviding assistance to users.

[0034] Different pages may be provided for different users of thesystem. For example, a database administrator may access underlyingfinancial databases through a database administration page, which mayallow a user to alter existing records, create new data structures (suchas tables, fields, attributes, and so forth), modify relationshipsbetween data structures, backup data, and perform other functions. Anapplication administrator may view an administration page through whicha user may create new accounts, new users, new customers, and so forth,as well as control access privileges for other users and perform otheradministrative tasks. Institutional users such as managers may view afunds page which provides read-only access to all or some of the funddata stored in the databases, and which permits printouts of fund data.A fund manager may view a fund manager page which provides write accessto some or all of the fund data, in addition to read access, so thatfund data, customer data, and so forth may be created, updated, orviewed. Third parties, such as customers, may view pages that displaytheir own financial data, and data providers may be permitted to addcurrent data to the database. Each of the above functions may berealized through a different page, coupled with different underlyingaccess privileges to data and code within the system described herein.

[0035] Certain users, such as fund managers or other institutionalusers, may be provided with tools within the page to assist withreviewing and using data maintained by the system. Filters may beprovided for restricting data viewed by, for example, the fund manageraccording to user controlled criteria, such as by customer, by fundmanager, by value, or by any other field within the database. Printingtools, along with various print layouts, may be provided. Data may beexported, such as to a tab delimited file, a comma delimited file, aspreadsheet file, or any other file suitable for use by the user.Certain users, such as the fund managers who update financial data, mayimport data to the system. The imported data may be, for example, in atab-delimited file, a comma delimited file, a spreadsheet file, or thelike.

[0036] Thus it will be appreciated that a networked financial managementsystem may be realized in which current financial data may be obtainedfrom a client device anywhere within the internetwork. New data may beprovided to the system, and more particularly, the financial databasewithin the system, from time to time by a user at a client device. Thenew data may be compared to historical data, and analyzed for possibleerrors, as will now be described in more detail.

[0037]FIG. 4 is a flow chart of a verification process using the systemsdescribed herein. The process 400 may start 402 when data is received,as shown in step 404. The data may be received, for example, from aclient within the internetwork 110 of FIG. 1. The data may include anyfinancial data that might be provided on a periodic or other basis. Fora fund management system as described herein, the data may include, forexample, a fund identifier (such as a fund name, fund code, or otheridentifier) that identifies a specific fund, a net asset value for thefund, and a liquid asset value for the fund. The data may be received asan upload to the system of a spreadsheet (such as an Excel spreadsheetthat includes data for one or more funds), or may be manually providedthrough a user interface. The data may be provided by a fund manager whomonitors and manages funds for the institution that provides thefinancial management system, or the data may be provided by a thirdparty with specific information concerning the fund, and with access anduploading privileges for the system. As used in the followingdescription, the term “user” is intended to refer to either of theseparties, or any other party that might provide data to the system. Inone embodiment of the system described herein, financial data isprovided from a fund manager once each month.

[0038] As shown in step 406, corresponding historical data may beretrieved. For the financial data described above, this may include oneor more previous values for the net asset value and the liquid assetvalue for a fund identified by the fund identifier. Where appropriate,as described below, application logic that applies variance rules to newdata may be examined to determine what historical values to retrieve,such as the last instance of the value, the last five instances of thevalue, an average of the last n instances, or an average of allinstances over a predetermined period of time, e.g., one week or onemonth. In this manner, only data that will be required to apply one ormore variance rules needs to be retrieved from a location, such as adatabase, where the data is stored.

[0039] As shown in step 408, one or more variance rules may be applied.A threshold for the variance may be established to determine whether thevariance is within a tolerance or not. The threshold may be relative,e.g., based upon current or historical values for data, or the thresholdmay be absolute, i.e., based upon a magnitude of change, regardless ofcurrent and/or historical values. The threshold may instead be basedupon some external data. Also, a number of different variance rules maybe applied, all of which is described in further detail below.

[0040] One type of variance rule may be based upon relative changes inthe data. For example, where the rule is to be applied to a net assetvalue for a fund, as mentioned above, a tolerance may be establishedthat is a fixed percentage of the received net asset value, or of one ormore historical net asset values. The tolerance may be, for example, apercentage range such as +/−5% +/−10%, +/−15%, +/−20%, +/−25%, or +/−30%of a recent historical net asset values for the fund. The tolerance maybe an asymmetrical percentage range, e.g., from −5% to +17%. Thetolerance may instead be established as a symmetric or asymmetricpercentage of more than one historical value for the NAV. Where morethan one historical value is used, an average of the multiple values maybe taken, or a weighted average favoring more current values may beused, or a linear extrapolation of historical values or some other valuemay be calculated that is indicative of the different values, and usedas a bases for determining a tolerance.

[0041] Another type of variance rule may be based upon absolute changesin the data. For example, where the rule is to be applied to the netasset value for a fund, as mentioned above, a tolerance may beestablished that is a number of dollars. The tolerance may be, forexample, a range of +/−$50 million, +/−$100 million, +/−$500 million,+/−$1 billion, +/−$1.5 billion, or +/−$2 billion. As with relativetolerances described above, the absolute measures of tolerance may beasymmetric ranges such as −$50 million to +200 million.

[0042] Another type of variance rule may be based upon changes in thedata as compared to external benchmarks. For example, a percentage for atolerance may be established based on month-end-to-month-end percentvariation in a benchmark index. The benchmark index may be a value orvolume based market index such as the Standard and Poors (S&P) 500, theS&P 100, the S&P 400 midcap, the S&P 600 midcap, the Dow Jones (DJ)Industrials, the DJ Transportation, the DJ Utilities, the DJ Composite,the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) Volume in 000's, the NYSE Composite,the NYSE Tick, the NYSE ARMS, the Nasdaq Composite, the Nasdaq Volume in000's, the Nasdaq National Market Composite, the Nasdaq 100, the AMEXComposite, the AMEX Internet, the AMEX Networking, the ISDEX, the MajorMarket, the Pacific Exchange Technology, the Philadelphia Semiconductor,the Russell 1000, the Russell 2000, the Russell 3000, the TSC Internet,the Value Line, or the Wilshire 5000 TOT. The index may be based onbonds, commodities, or other financial instruments, such as the USTreasury Securities (TS) 30-Year Bond, the TS 10-Year Note, the TS5-Year Note, the TS 13-Week Bill, the DJ Spot, the DJ Futures, thePhiladelphia Gold & Silver, the Hang Seng, the Nikkei 225, the DAX, theCAC 40, or the FTSE 100. Other financial indicators may also be used,such as the Federal Funds rate, the Discount Rate, the Consumer PriceIndex, the Gross National Product, the Gross Domestic Product, and soforth. The aforementioned list of indices is only provided to present anillustrative set of indices, and should not be construed as exhaustive.Any financial index or other index suitable for comparison to changes inthe measured quantity (in this case, net asset value of a fund) may beused with the systems described herein. Further, it will be appreciatedthat a tolerance may be derived from a selected index, such as byapplication of a formula to the selected index.

[0043] It will be appreciated that the same variance rule may be appliedto each instance of data received in step 404, or a different variancerule may be established for each instance, e.g., for each different fundfor which data is received, as determined according to, for example, thefund code described above. An interface may be provided for a user tospecify a variance rule for each fund received, either together orindividually.

[0044] Once a variance rule has been determined for received data, itmay be determined whether the received data is within tolerance, asshown in step 410. This step may entail a straightforward comparison ofthe tolerance established by the variance rule of step 408 with thechange in the quantity of interest, e.g., in the example above, a changein net asset value from one or more historical values to the valuereceived in step 404. If the received net asset value is within thetolerance, then the process 400 may proceed to step 412 where thereceived data may be stored. If the received net asset value is out oftolerance, i.e., not within the tolerance range established in step 408,then the process 400 may proceed to step 414.

[0045] In step 414, one or more possible explanations for being out oftolerance may be presented to a user that provided the data received instep 404. These preset explanations may be required before storingreceived data. For the fund net asset value provided as an exampleabove, explanations may include asset transfers, benefit payments,incorrect prior month values, cash influxes, cash withdrawals,collateral NAV changes, contributions, conversions, closing of funds,merger of funds, supplied and client verified NAVs, derivativefluctuations, changes in security market values, expenses, fund mergers,holding accounts, liquidation of partial assets, new money fromshareholders, creation of a new fund, shareholder distributions,shareholder redemptions, shareholder subscriptions, trading activities,favorable or unfavorable exchange rates, or valid zero asset balances.Each explanation may have associated therewith a direction of change towhich the explanation may apply. That is, certain explanations may onlybe applicable to changes that are greater than the establishedtolerance. Other explanations may only be applicable to changes that areless than the established tolerance. Some explanations may apply toeither increases or decreases in the measured quantity. The type ofvariation to which each explanation applies may be displayed along withthe explanations, or may be used to filter explanations prior todisplay, so that only applicable explanations are presented to a user.The explanations may include an “other” category, with which a userprovides textual explanation. Optionally, no “other” may be provided, sothat a user is required to select one of a plurality of specificallyenumerated reasons.

[0046] The explanations above may be preset before data is provided. Auser interface may be provided through which an authorized user may editthe preset explanations. Explanations available to a provider of datamay be added, removed, or modified. Editing the available explanationsmay be appropriate, for example, in response to changes in economic orfinancial conditions, changes in accounting rules or procedures, or anyother changes that may affect values for the received data.

[0047] As shown in step 416, a selection of one of the possibleexplanations may be received from the data provider for the datareceived in step 404. Once an explanation has been received, the dataand the explanation may be stored, as shown in step 412. The process 400is then done 418, and may be terminated, or may return to the start 402where new data may be received.

[0048] When data has been entered and tested for variations as describedabove, an explicit record of substantial (as measured by definedvariance rules) changes is preserved, and may be reviewed by managers,customers, or others who have appropriate authority to access datarecords in the system and may be interested in, for example, fundperformance and variations.

[0049] It will be appreciated that the above process 400, may berealized in hardware, software, or some combination of these. Theprocess 400 may be realized in one or more microprocessors,microcontrollers, embedded microcontrollers, programmable digital signalprocessors or other programmable device, along with internal and/orexternal memory such as read-only memory, programmable read-only memory,electronically erasable programmable read-only memory, random accessmemory, dynamic random access memory, double data rate random accessmemory, Rambus direct random access memory, flash memory, or any othervolatile or non-volatile memory for storing program instructions,program data, and program output or other intermediate or final results.The process 400 may also, or instead, be realized in an applicationspecific integrated circuit, a programmable gate array, programmablearray logic, or any other device or combination of devices that may beconfigured to process electronic signals.

[0050] Any combination of the above circuits and components, whetherpackaged discretely, as a chip, as a chipset, or as a die, may besuitably adapted for use with the systems described herein. It willfurther be appreciated that the above process 400 may be realized ascomputer executable code created using a structured programming languagesuch as C, an object-oriented programming language such as C++ or Java,or any other high-level or low-level programming language that may becompiled or interpreted to run on one of the above devices, as well asheterogeneous combinations of processors, processor architectures, orcombinations of different hardware and software. The process 400 mayalso be deployed using software technologies or development environmentsincluding a mix of software languages, such as Microsoft IIS, ActiveServer Pages, Java, C++, Oracle databases, SQL, and so forth.

[0051]FIG. 5 depicts a user interface that may be used with the systemsdescribed herein. More particularly, FIG. 5 shows an interface forproviding explanations for data variance, as in steps 414 and 416 above.An interface 500, which may be a Web page, may include a funds button502, a managers button 504, a reports button 506, a user profile button508, a help button 510, a current period display area 512, a funddisplay area 514, a net asset value display area 516, a net changedisplay area 518, a previous net asset value display area 520, a funddetail information link 522, a fund type information link 524, a fundname display area 526, a liquid asset value display area 528, apercentage change display area 530, and a variance reason selectioninput 532. The interface 500 may be presented to a user, e.g., a dataprovider, when data is provided to the system that exceeds predeterminedtolerances as described above.

[0052] The funds button 502 may be used to navigate to a fundinformation page that provides information about funds with data storedby the system. The managers button 504 may be used to navigate to amanagers information page that provides information about managers whoare authorized users of the system. The reports button 506 may be usedto access a report generation menu that may be used to print or downloadreports on funds, managers, variances, or any other data accessiblethrough the system. The help button 510 may be used to access a helpmenu that provides descriptions of various functions, tool, menus, andthe like provided by the system.

[0053] Information relating to the variant data may be provided by theinterface 500. This may include the current period display area 512which displays the time period for which the new data is being provided.The fund display area 514 may display a fund code that identifies thefund to which the new data relates. The net asset value display area 516may display the current net asset value supplied for the current timeperiod. The net change display area 518 may display the change from anhistorical value for the net asset value, the historical value beingfurther displayed in the previous net asset value display area 520. Thefund name display area 526 may display the full name, or an abbreviatedname, of the fund identified by the fund code. The liquid asset valuedisplay area 528 may display the liquid asset value of the fundidentified by the fund code (and the fund name). The percentage changedisplay area 530 may display a percentage change between the current netasset value and the historical net asset value. The variance reasonselection input 532 may be, for example, a drop down menu ofexplanations, and may be operated by a user to select a specific reasonfor the variance.

[0054] Other reference data may be accessed through the interface 500,such as information about funds tracked within the system (through thefund detail information link 522) and information about fund typestracked within the system (through the fund type link 524). Otherbuttons may be provided, such as buttons to navigate through a number ofvariance entry screens, which may be used, for example, when data for anumber of funds are collectively supplied to the system (such as througha spreadsheet upload).

[0055] The interface 500 of FIG. 5 may also, or instead, be used tomanually enter data for a number of funds. A fund manager may, in thismode, access the interface 500 during each reporting period, andmanually enter a net asset value in the net asset value display area 516for each fund managed by the manager. If a manager attempts to save datafor a fund that exceeds its tolerance, a warning may pop-up alerting themanager to the omission, and requiring selection of a reason beforesaving the data.

[0056] It will be appreciated that the interface 500 described above ismerely exemplary, and that other controls such as radio buttons,sliders, scroll bars, and so forth may be used to receive user inputs,display data, and enable navigation through a Web site. It will also beappreciated that, as noted above, the systems and methods describedherein may be suitably adapted to any data collection system for anytype of data that is manually or automatically entered under usersupervision. All such embodiments may fall within the scope of theinvention described herein.

[0057] Thus, while the invention has been disclosed in connection withthe preferred embodiments shown and described in detail, variousmodifications and improvements thereon will become readily apparent tothose skilled in the art. It should be understood that all mattercontained in the above description or shown in the accompanying drawingsshall be interpreted as illustrative, and not in a limiting sense, andthat the following claims should be interpreted in the broadest senseallowable by law.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method comprising: receiving from a dataprovider a net asset value for a fund owned by a customer; comparing thenet asset value to one or more historical net asset values for thecustomer to obtain a variance that characterizes a difference betweenthe net asset value and the one or more historical net asset values;when the variance is within a tolerance for the net asset value, storingthe net asset value in a database; and when the variance is not withinthe tolerance for the net asset value: i) presenting a plurality ofpreset explanations for the variance-to the data provider, ii) requiringthe data provider to select one of the plurality of preset explanationsfor the variance; and iii) storing the net asset value and the one ofthe plurality of preset explanations in the database.
 2. The method ofclaim 1 wherein the data provider is at least one of a third-party dataprovider or a fund manger.
 3. The method of claim 1 wherein thetolerance is user-modifiable.
 4. The method of claim 1 wherein thetolerance is a range of acceptable percentage variations.
 5. The methodof claim 4 wherein the acceptable percentage variations are based on amonth-end to month-end variation in at least one of the Dow JonesIndustrial Average or the Standard and Poors
 500. 6. The method of claim4 wherein the range of acceptable percentage variations is a range ofbetween +/−5% and +/−30%.
 7. The method of claim 4 wherein the range ofacceptable percentage variations is determined relative to the one ormore historical net asset values.
 8. The method of claim 4 wherein therange of acceptable percentage variations is determined relative to thereceived net asset value.
 9. The method of claim 1 wherein the toleranceis a range of acceptable absolute variations.
 10. The method of claim 9wherein the range of acceptable absolute variations is a range ofbetween +/−$100 million and +/−$2 billion.
 11. The method of claim 1wherein the tolerance is an asymmetrical range of acceptable variations.12. The method of claim 1 wherein a tolerance is determined individuallyfor each one of a plurality of different funds owned by the customer.13. The method of claim 1 wherein the tolerance is adjusted according toa market condition.
 14. The method of claim 1 wherein the plurality ofpreset explanations for the variance includes at least one of assettransfers, benefit payments, incorrect prior month values, cashinfluxes, cash withdrawals, collateral NAV changes, contributions,conversions, closing of funds, merger of funds, supplied and clientverified NAVs, derivative fluctuations, changes in security marketvalues, expenses, fund mergers, holding accounts, liquidation of partialassets, new money from shareholders, creation of a new fund, shareholderdistributions, shareholder redemptions, shareholder subscriptions,trading activities, favorable or unfavorable exchange rates, or validzero asset balances.
 15. The method of claim 14 wherein the presetexplanations are edited by an authorized user.
 16. The method of claim 1wherein receiving a net asset value for a fund further comprisesreceiving at least one of a spreadsheet, a comma delimited file, or atab delimited file that contains the net asset value.
 17. The method ofclaim 1 wherein receiving a net asset value for a fund further comprisesreceiving a net asset value that is manually entered through a userinterface.
 18. A computer program product comprising: computerexecutable code for receiving from a data provider a net asset value fora fund owned by a customer; computer executable code for comparing thenet asset value to one or more historical net asset values for thecustomer to obtain a variance that characterizes a difference betweenthe net asset value and the one or more historical net asset values;computer executable code for storing the net asset value in a databasewhen the variance is within a tolerance for the net asset value; andcomputer executable code for, when the variance is not within thetolerance for the net asset value: i) presenting a plurality of presetexplanations for the variance to the data provider, ii) requiring thedata provider to select one of the plurality of preset explanations forthe variance; and iii) storing the net asset value and the one of theplurality of preset explanations in the database.
 19. A systemcomprising: means for receiving from a data provider a net asset valuefor a fund owned by a customer; means for comparing the net asset valueto one or more historical net asset values for the customer to obtain avariance that characterizes a difference between the net asset value andthe one or more historical net asset values; means for storing the netasset value in a database when the variance is within a tolerance forthe net asset value; and means for, when the variance is not within thetolerance for the net asset value: i) presenting a plurality of presetexplanations for the variance to the data provider, ii) requiring thedata provider to select one of the plurality of preset explanations forthe variance; and iii) storing the net asset value and the one of theplurality of preset explanations in the database.
 20. A systemcomprising: a database having storage for financial data for one or morefunds owned by a customer, the financial data for the one or more fundsincluding one or more historical net asset values for the one or morefunds; a client device connected in a communicating relationship with anetwork, the client device receiving fund data relating to the one ormore funds, the fund data including a new net asset value for at leastone of the one or more funds; a server connected in a communicatingrelationship with the database and the client device, the serverreceiving the fund data from the client device and executing a processto compare the new net asset value to the one or more historical netasset values, the process further configured to present a plurality ofpreset explanations to the client device when a variance between the newnet asset value and the one or more historical net asset values exceedsa tolerance, and, when the tolerance is exceeded, further configured tostore the new net asset value only when a selected one of the pluralityof preset explanations has been received from the client device.
 21. Thesystem of claim 20, the server further configured to present a userinterface to a second client device, the user interface providingcontrols for adding, deleting, or modifying one of the plurality ofpreset explanations.
 22. The system of claim 20, the server furtherconfigured to present a user interface to a second client device, theuser interface providing controls for modifying the tolerance.
 23. Amethod comprising: receiving a value for a measurement from a dataprovider; comparing the value to one or more historical values for themeasurement to obtain a variance that characterizes a difference betweenthe value and the one or more historical values; when the variance iswithin a tolerance for the value, storing the value in a database; andwhen the variance is not within the tolerance for the value: i)presenting a plurality of preset explanations for the variance to thedata provider, ii) requiring the data provider to select one of theplurality of preset explanations for the variance; and iii) storing thenet asset value and the one of the plurality of preset explanations inthe database.